West Bromwich Albion boss Valerien Ismael has confirmed to the Express & Star that defender Matt Clarke is in contention to feature against Stoke City tonight. 

The centre back had previously been sidelined for a period after sustaining a hamstring injury against Blackburn Rovers back in August but is now seemingly set to return to the fold in some capacity.

Meanwhile the Baggies are also checking on the fitness of several other individuals heading into what is yet another important game in their Sky Bet Championship campaign as they look to extend their unbeaten run.

Speaking ahead of the game, Ismael was quick to provide the following injury update:

"Matt Clarke is completely back in full training now so he will be available for the game at Stoke.

"Snods (Robert Snodgrass) is back in training. He twisted his ankle last week but he trained yesterday (Wednesday) to test everything, he's fine so he's back.

"Rayhaan Tulloch has another injury, a groin injury. He will be out for two or three weeks. Otherwise, all the players, with the exception of Dara O'Shea (ankle), are available."

The plethora of options available to Albion for this game puts them in a string position and they will no doubt be confident of picking up a positive result at the Bet365 Stadium.

Stoke City by comparison have also lost just one of their last six games and are seemingly full of confidence.

The Verdict 

Having Clarke back fit and available for selection will help the Baggies to keep things tight at the back moving forwards.

The defender was seen as something of a marquee signing as part of the Ismael era and will now have the chance to re-establish himself as a regular within the team.

His experience of playing in the Championship is invaluable to this team and it would be fair to assume that he will soon slot in on the left of the back three.

Managing his return will however be of the upmost importance in order to avoid a reoccurrence of the injury.